During my teens, I was massively into jeans to the point where my 3 year old niece only wanted to wear jeans because that’s all she ever saw me in. Back then, high street jeans left a lot to be desired so I bought jeans from the likes of Paper Denim & Cloth and 7 For All Mankind on eBay to get decent jeans which kept their shape and didn’t gape at the waistband. My first pair of proper, designer jeans were Sass & Bide, I bought them in Sydney where they were significantly cheaper than over here and never really looked at high street denim ever again.
Of course, exclusively wearing designer jeans is a rather expensive habit so when I discovered Chloe handbags and Nicholas Kirkwood heels, my budget for denim investments vanished. Over the last couple of years, I’ve looked enviously at the likes of Miranda Kerr who always look so immaculate in their perfectly fitting jeans – making a mental note to go set aside an afternoon to find the perfect pair of jeans. The denim game is a different beast to the one I knew during my university days, the amount of brands to choose from has quadrupled and the price tag that comes with them is pretty hefty, on Net-a-Porter prices start at £130 for BLK Denim and Acne but soar to just under £1,000 for Ashish and Saint Laurent.
Recently, I popped into Topshop to give high street denim a chance after over a decade away, on the insistence of PRs, editors, photographers and pretty much everyone in fashion who swears that they’re the best jeans bar none – even brands which are 10x the price. I shimmied into a pair of high waisted, ankle grazing, ripped Jamie jeans and instantly fell in love. With just the right amount of elastane to make them mould to the perfect fit, there was no dreaded waistband gape, the high waist and cropped length made them look super chic and the pocket shape was so flattering on my bottom – which is obviously a key deciding factor.
Since I bought the Jamies, I’ve worn them to death with everything from trainers and a tshirt to sassy red boots and a cropped top; my love for jeans has been rekindled! This season, Topshop have the coolest model on the block, Hayley Baldwin, as the face of their denim collection – surely a sign that the collection is getting a whole lot bigger.
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